But the Jews feared other problems from the sea besides turbulent storms. Their traditional archrivals, marauders who beset them countless times, were a seacoast nation. The Philistines came from the direction of the sea. The Jew looked to a new world where all the evils symbolized by the sea would be absent. The new earth will... Continue Reading

Levin has succeeded rather well in demonstrating that the impulses we call Right and Left in America have a long and rich history.  The Left, with its utopian preoccupations with the abstract ideals of individual autonomy and equality, and its sanguine confidence in the power of government to achieve these goals, reflects convictions articulated at... Continue Reading

In Romans, the context is our standing before God, God’s view and verdict upon us.  In that sense, God justifies us by our faith, He counts us as righteous because of the faith that He alone can see. In James, the context is our standing before people, their view and verdict upon us. In that... Continue Reading

If you commonly reference the Trinity in your pulpit ministry, your hearers will naturally pick up an orthodox view of the Trinity, which will provide them with a foundation on which to answer the various false gods, false religions, and cults in their surrounding communities. The Trinity is one of the most essential distinguishing doctrines... Continue Reading

“The idea that a Man is the Head of the Home has its roots in secular ancient culture, not in the Word of God or the created order of humanity.” The unblushing error of this statement is breathtaking. It is a stark denial of the straightforward teaching of scripture. That is why Bessey spends the... Continue Reading

And suddenly we understand why John called Jesus “the Word” of God.  Jesus Christ is the embodiment—the incarnation—of the Father’s heart. What we could not see, what previously had had no form, reveals itself to us in Him. To paraphrase His own words, “Out of the abundance of God’s heart, Jesus is.” And this is... Continue Reading

Well, it is and it isn’t. The law will continue to embody a morality code, just a very different code from the Christian moral system that undergirded Western law for more than a thousand years. This new secular morality is radically different, to be sure; there is just a very different morality driving the new... Continue Reading

We’ve all witnessed them. They are in every church, regardless of the church’s level of faithfulness. These prayers are at the Wednesday night prayer meeting, Sunday morning service, church staff meeting, Christian conference and home group gathering. And its purpose is to rile a crowd. Its aim is not to commune publicly with a living God, but to inspire a group... Continue Reading

Using the tools of sociology and cultural anthropology, Wuthnow argued that Will Herberg’s well-known tripartite schematizing of America into Protestants, Catholics, and Jews has been replaced by a twofold division between cultural liberals and cultural conservatives, and that this shift has resulted in a dramatic “restructuring of American religion.”    After five years of an... Continue Reading

 Jesus’ going back into the world has served as a model for the church’s ministry until the present day. When Christ calls people into His kingdom, He doesn’t pull them out of the world forever. He sends them back out with the gospel.   I’ve long been fascinated with those moments in Jesus’ life when the... Continue Reading